Iran says 5 abducted guards, freed in Pakistan, return home

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's Revolutionary Guard says five of 12 Iranian border guards abducted in October by militants near the Pakistani border and freed in Pakistan earlier this month have returned home.

The report on the Guard's website, Sepahnews.com, says the five arrived in Iran on Wednesday night. The fate of the others remains unknown.

The guards were abducted in a pre-dawn raid near the Loukdan border crossing in Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province. The area has seen occasional clashes with Baluch separatists and also drug traffickers.

Details were sketchy and Iran has since twice revised the number of the abducted border force, including some from the vaunted Revolutionary Guard.